YMMV / Killer is Dead

• Critical Dissonance:
  • The game received mixed reviews from critics with chief critcism being the combat system. Fan reaction was either more positive towards gameplay or found it good enough to not detract from the other elements.
  • The game's Gigolo Mode has caused controversy among professional critics, with a lot of them calling it perverted and some saying the game would kill Suda's career. Fans mostly found it ridiculous at worst, since it's almost too over the top to take seriously; for the record, this may be because Grasshopper was forced to focus on it by the publishers more than they would have liked to.
• Fashion-Victim Villain: David apparently decided that being stark naked save for gold jewelery glued to the bare essentials is a good enough outfit. At least he wears a robe over it. Then he takes it off for the boss fight.^note The gold and naked figure might be a reference to Hindu gods. The outfit is so ridiculous that even Mondo calls him out on it.
• Fridge Brilliance: In the mission where you go to the moon, when confronting David, he basically says that killing him at the moment is a grave mistake. Considering David is the final boss, of course it is. There wouldn't be much of a game left if you kill the final boss early.
• Game-Breaker: The Charge Cannon, full stop. You only have to do one of the Gigolo missions a second time for it, and it's the most expensive to upgrade completely, but when you can obliterate Elite Mooks in one shot, and even rip massive chunks out of a boss' health bar, it makes it far more than worth it. Combined with the infinite ammo upgrade, and it makes almost the entire game trivial.
• Goddamn Bats:
  • Any firearm-wielding enemy. Flying turrets in particular, since they can stun Mondo with a single projectile volley.
  • Grappler Wires, who can get Mondo in a hold so other Wires can get free hits on him.
• Magnificent Bastard:
  • David is Mondo Zappa's brother, the king of the Wires, the ruler of the moon, and a hammy egomaniac who seeks to spread the moon’s Dark Matter all over the Earth and become its ruler. Having been an executioner for Bryan's Execution Firm, once David became corrupted by the Dark Matter, he left the Firm, leaving behind the brainwashed Mika to act as his spy to sabotage the Firm. Killing his mother and chopping off Mondo's arm, David usurps control over the moon from its Goddess, Moon River, using Dark Matter to create Wires to wreak havoc on Earth, knowing that each kill drives Mondo closer and closer to Dark Matter corruption. David ultimately has Mondo kill him in a final duel to completely corrupt him into taking his spot as the moon's ruler.
  • "The Man Who Stole Blood" DLC:
    • Sebastian is a half-blood vampire who prefers drinking the blood of pure-blood vampires over humans. Seducing several female vampires with his charm so that he can suck their blood, when his latest target Betty fights back and kills him, Sebastian immediately resurrects and injures her face. Setting up several traps for those who raid his castle, upon his encounter with Mondo, Sebastian expresses his admiration for his determination, putting up a tough fight while refusing to go down. With his dying breath, Sebastian warns Mondo about his family connections to David.
    • Betty is a pure-blood vampire who previously denied Sebastian’s chance to feed upon her blood by temporarily killing him. Her face injured by Sebastian afterwards, Betty hires Bryan’s Execution Firm to get revenge. After Sebastian’s slain by Mondo, Betty reveals that she had intended to feed on Mondo’s blood afterward, preferring the blood of strong warriors. Coming very close to biting him, Betty allows Mondo to leave after he draws his sword on her, but not before having hot steamy sex with him.
• Mis-blamed: Some people thought Gigolo Mode was a tasteless move on Suda's part. Not only the game was not directed by Suda in the first place, but it turned out it was Kadokawa's urges that forced them to focus on that mode and make it more sexual, losing the opportunity to develop other side content in the process.
• Nightmare Fuel: Alice's One-Winged Angel form in the third chapter, and the transformation into said form.
• Polished Port: The PC version has good options, runs well, and, through a couple tweaks to the ini files, run at 60 FPS.
• The Scrappy: If Steam's user reviews are to be believed, Mika. Mostly due to her impossibly shrill voice and annoying antics.
• Scrappy Mechanic: Gigolo Mode; despite the majority of unlockables revolving around it, there's no gameplay reason to partake in Gigolo Mode beyond the three times needed to unlock all the sub-weapons. The girls will still regularly call to bug you during story missions to come see them, and keeping up on buying said presents sinks a lot of money, money that could've otherwise gone into buying prohibitively expensive upgrade items and endgame Mondo costumes.
• Spiritual Successor: Almost everything in Killer Is Dead is inspired by some aspect of an older Grasshopper game.
  • First and foremost, the title, art style, strange formerly-human monsters, and quirky state-sponsored assassination squad are reminiscent of Killer7.
  • The Hack and Slash gameplay, however, is largely similar to No More Heroes, down to the system with one button to attack, another to break guards, and general Katanas Are Just Better attitude.
  • Mondo's left arm works very similar to Johnson in Shadows of the Damned.
  • Dark Matter is a more literal take on criminal power from The Silver Case, while the relationship between Mondo, Vivienne and Bryan is the same as Shiroyabu, Kuroyanagi and Hatoba's in The 25th Ward.
• That One Boss: Hamada-Yama. In a game where Just Defenses and Burst Rushes are strongly encouraged over simple blocking, his attacks are nigh-impossible to pull either off with, and if you don't break the habit and just start blocking his attacks normally he'll absolutely wreck you.
• That One Sidequest:
  • Weight Limit, an Elevator Action Sequence where the elevator stops every time there's more than two Wires riding it at any time. Problem is, Wires respawn almost immediately after they're killed, and the enemy types are some of the most aggravating Goddamn Bats in the game. Really, the most efficient way of beating this mission is to simply stand in the corners of the elevator and use Mondo's blood cannon to get cheap head-shots on every individual Wire.
  • The Gentleman's Payment bonus is the bane of anyone looking for an AAA-rank on a mission.
• Visual Effects of Awesome: The cel shading in this game looks GREAT, to say the least.